Cosmos Professional--good, bad, or indifferent??? Please Comment

Time to spend some $$$ on an upgrade from CosmosExpress...

Can anyone offer any comments on their experience with the full-blown
version?

My ongoing disappointment with the quality control of SolidWorks has me
concerned about Cosmos--I'd be particularly interested in comments about
bugs / service packs / customer service.

Also, any recommendations on maintenance? My VAR is asking for $2800/year
for maintenance (40% of the purchase price), which seems pretty spendy-- Is
there really a significant value to be had from the maintenance?

thanks,
Michael

 

Here's the scoop.

SRAC QC and SW QC are two different things. SRAC has been pretty decent
with their products and far more trouble free. They are after all 2,500
miles from Concord.

As to what to look at, consider DesignStar, another SRAC product. It
has the look and feel of CosmosWorks, but is a standalone program. This
means among other things:

1. When it is running you can still run SW just like I was doing a
minute ago.
2. You don't get caught up in the forced maintenance loop like you do
with integrated products.
3. It is always a little behind CW in development except when it is
ahead.
4. It has a real nice Catia translator for extra bucks.
5. It still has a live link that you can turn on and off for updating
off SW files.
6. It creates relatively compact files for archiving.
7. It has the look and feel of CW with some improvements.

Also have a look at NEiWorks and NE Nastran if you are more
experienced.